{"id":2620,"date":"2011-06-29T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=2620"},"modified":"2011-06-29T08:12:59","modified_gmt":"2011-06-29T13:12:59","slug":"my-journey-with-financial-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/my-journey-with-financial-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"My Journey with “Financial Peace” from a Catholic Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On the road to becoming debt-free<\/p><\/div>\n

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How it started:<\/strong>
\nBack in the first week of April ’11, a company-wide email was sent out at my workplace advertising a new course that was being offered. The program was Dave Ramsey<\/a>‘s “Financial Peace University,” a 13-week video based personal finance class that would be moderated by a fellow employee on-campus during lunch. Everyone was open to sign up provided they “covered the cost for materials.” In addition, in return for perfect attendance of all 13 sessions my workplace would reimburse 50% of the cost to the participants.<\/p>\n

As a young adult with college loans and dreams of owning my own home in the near future, I was interested. But, I was wary of some kind of scam. I’m fortunate enough to trust my workplace enough to quell the doubts. (Who wouldn’t trust the HR department of a company that has weekly ecumenical prayer time and bible studies?)<\/p>\n

I showed up for the introductory session trying to contain my excitement. I was very motivated to get out of debt and to learn exactly how to do that. I needed somebody to hold my hand through the process, and this Dave Ramsey fellow seemed like the guy to do it.<\/p>\n

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Little internal red light<\/p><\/div>\n

Right off the bat when in the introductory video<\/a> Ramsey emphasized\u00a0his love for God, thanksgiving for His blessings, and hopes to share that with us, the silent blinking alarm went off in my mind. As a Catholic, I know not all things Christian,\u00a0particularly\u00a0Evangelical Christian, are in line with the teachings of the Magisterium. However, I’m not exactly the canon lawyer\u00a0amongst\u00a0my peers either, and am not confident\u00a0in my ability to defend the teachings of Rome. So whenever that little red light in my mind goes off, I’m a little uneasy.<\/p>\n

I had a week to decide but in my heart I felt peace with making the step. I had been praying for this kind of opportunity, so who was I to turn it down and miss out? Plus, the 50% reimbursement meant I didn’t have that much to lose. I prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance.<\/p>\n

About the course:
\n<\/strong>Now for the technical stuff. The program we did was the Financial Peace University: Workplace Edition. It\u00a0constituted\u00a0of 12 two-hour lessons and one bonus lesson, once a week. The cost for the box of materials was $116\/ea and inside the box was a<\/p>\n